Abstract
How do colonial states make themselves known to their citizens? Drawing on sociological, post-colonial, and feminist theories, this article argues that colonial authorities make the state visible to its citizens and thereby establish its territoriality. The case of Jordan is considered as a prime example for the visual means of creating state ideological power through the cult of the Hashemite monarch. The origins and logic of this practice must be traced back to the British colonial mandate over the country that operated from 1922 to 1946. When in Jordan, British officials constructed state presence through a variety of methods including building desert forts, designing ornate tribal uniforms for the military, and showing the Jordanian flag in various areas throughout the country. The present account analyzes these and other instances of the display of state power through a reappraisal of the work of Clifford Geertz. This article identifies the foundation of the state-citizen relationship especially for new states in ideological power expressed materially.
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Notes
Circassians were Eastern European Muslims from the Caucasus transplanted by the Ottoman Empire into the area to settle the sparsely populated area that would become Jordan
Although in recent years Jordanian citizenship has been stripped from some groups of Palestinians. See Jamjoum (2013) for information from an Interview with Anis F. Kassem.
Originally termed “The Emirate of Transjordan”, the territory changed its name to “The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan” in 1949. (Carroll 2003, p. 108).
One must view these numbers as somewhat suspect, however, since terms like “nomad” or “semi-nomad” are nebulous ones open to interpretation. Tribes in the Middle East had historically been occasionally involved in agriculture in addition to animal husbandry. See Anderson (1986).
For an instance where colonial powers attempted to alter existing cultural categories and encountered miscommunication because of confusion in the signifiers used, see (Go 2008). For the shift in British colonial policy from attempts at liberal reform to a strategy of indirect rule that relied on pre-existing methods of rule, see Mantena (2010).
Translated literally it means “the Arab Army,” but Frederick Peake, the commander of the force thought it “[t]oo ostentatious a name for such a small force” and changed it to the Arab Legion, see Massad (2001, p. 104).
One can find a complete family tree linking King Hussein to the Prophet Muhammad on his official government website http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/rfamily_hashemites.html (The Hashemites. Retrieved March 19, 2013). For further examples of how Middle Eastern monarchies employ religious symbolism in legitimating their own authority see Combs-Schilling’s account regarding Morocco (1989).
Excluding the Sinai, which in many ways constitutes another case entirely.
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Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Julia Adams, Jonathan Wyrtzen, Saadia Saeed, William MacMillan, Candas Pinar, Iris Chan, Todd Madigan, participants in the Yale University Comparative Research Workshop, and the members of the Yale Workshop in Advanced Sociological Writing and Research—Phillip Smith, Sara Bastomski, Elizabeth Roberto, Thorn Kray, and Elizabeth Becker—for all of their helpful comments in revising this manuscript as well as the American Councils for International Education for the Critical Language Scholarship in Arabic during which some of this research was completed.
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Endelman, J. Displaying the state: visual signs and colonial construction in Jordan. Theor Soc 44, 199–218 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-015-9245-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-015-9245-8